Rutherford's ex-husband Daniel Giersch is currently unable to visit the United States after his visa was revoked.

The actress yesterday appeared on The View to discuss the case but was offered tissues by host Whoopi Goldberg after becoming emotional.

Vowing to appeal, she explained that the children are in France and revealed that the judge's ruling came the day before they were due to return to school in New York.

"I go [to France] every time work allows me to leave," she said, adding that she left Giersch when she was three months pregnant because she was "scared" by what she was finding out about him.

"I don't think he would intentionally harm the children, or I couldn't live with myself right now, but I do think that the children are at risk," she said. "Now I'm the visitor and there's a lot of things being said to them every day... They aren't things kids need to hear. He involves them in a way that I think is not [in their best interests]."

Rutherford added that her biggest fear is that her children will be "greatly affected" by the case, saying: "I just want them to be okay. I think at the end of the day all parents want their kids to be okay.

"I think to see them go through it - sent to a foreign country and then brought back and then going to different schools and being told one thing by one parent... they're just little babies. They need a chance to have a consistent life."

She continued: "My fear, and what I was in court trying to get to the bottom of - he could disappear tomorrow and I don't know where to look... My biggest fear is that I won't know where they are. I mean, right now, thank God I know where they are."